Sales and Marketing Must Join Forces or Get Left Behind

How often does your marketing team sit in on sales calls? Or vice-versa, how much feedback does your sales team pass over to marketing about lead quality? The sad fact is, most of the time marketing and sales don’t talk as much as they should.

But why? Recent research from Forrester found that 80% of marketers report their relationship with sales is “good” and 60% of sales people said the same. So where’s the disconnect? Only a third of marketers said that their metrics align closely with sales. And worse, only 40% of marketers indicated that they participate in pipeline reviews. So sales and marketing are friends — but not friends with benefits.

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B2B Buyers Mandate a New Charter for Marketing and Sales

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According to Forrester, companies that don’t fix this issue are going to be left behind. And thankfully, they have built a framework to help you bring your sales and marketing teams closer together, get on the same page with goals, and execute powerful campaigns that drive more revenue.

Sales and Marketing Sitting in a Tree

So how do you connect your teams and close the gap between sales and marketing? It starts with participation. A good smarketing team (see what we did there?) has marketing actively participating in account selection and planning as part of an account-based marketing strategy, and sales leaning on marketing for the right content and social selling opportunities. The result is a buyer-centric approach to sales and marketing that puts customers first.

Companies that are leading this charge have put emphasis on buyer-centric strategies like:

• A data strategy that both marketing and sales can get behind
• Remote sales teams that report to marketing
• Social selling programs that engage buyers where they are
• Account-based marketing frameworks that involve both teams

Want to get the full story on how to turn your sales and marketing teams into a smarketing powerhouse? Get the Forrester report B2B Buyers Mandate A New Charter For Marketing And Sales.

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